TTC whilst breastfeeding. Tips, advice and support

[Porridgeaddiction]

Hi all,

There doesn't seem to be a thread for TTC whilst breastfeeding, so I thought that I'd start one. All welcome to jump aboard if that's your journey too, or offer tips and insights if you've managed to conceive whilst feeding a young one.

@Orangio my husband has a very similar mindset - he said we know we've managed to have one baby so odds are we'll successfully have another. I do feel a bit more chilled than first time around too knowing we have DD already.

@Mc3209 As a naive mum of 1 I think I'd like 3 as our kids won't have any wider family like cousins as they grow up as our siblings are older and very clear they're not having a kids. However, my husbands not as convinced for all the right reasons (space, costs, outnumbered etc) so we've agreed 2 and a 'chat' in a few years about number 3 😆

I'm 39 so time isn't really on my side, but my Aunt had a baby at 41, so it's definitely possible!

We only want one more. I don't want our daughter to be an only child, so we want 2 little ones, then we'll call it a day!

I've just ordered some of the Zita west vitamins, let's see if they make a difference.

I've also pumped for 2 feeds for the last couple of days, have started drinking raspberry leaf tea again and the weight is still piling on 😳

I've got a weekend away next weekend and we have a few meals/cream teas planned, but after that, I think I'm going to taper down on the amount that I shove into my mouth! It's all well and good increasing fertility, but putting on nearly 4kg per month is not going to do much for my overall health!

I just wanted to post as this came up in my active. . My one year old breastfeeds at least 8- 12 times in 24 hours and usually three times a night too. I am about 10 weeks pregnant. I caught up with my fertility consultant before starting to try four months ago who said it's luck of the draw and all down to increasing the odds sperm will meet egg. He said I didnt need to reduce feeds and many breastfeeding mums of babies one+ co-sleep thereby reducing the likelihood of sex at least every other day but attribute not getting pregnant to feeding. In order to conceive my current pregnancy we had sex every other day between periods. It took two cycles. This is after about two years and one second trimester MMC to get to meet my daughter. So the main advice I have is have as much sex as you possibly can! To conceive my daughter we had sex 17 times in the three weeks I could possibly have ovulated.

@Porridgeaddiction I wouldn't say times not on your side either. I live in london so a lot of the mums I've met since having my little one are in their 40s. Im the same as a lot of you though, probably just want two. And yes at least we know it works!

@Flittingaboutagain that's interesting! I'm so sorry you had such a rough journey to get your first, but it's brilliant you got pregnant so quickly second time around. Hmm more sex... well first need to make sure I don't put on so much weight that my partner still wants to I guess, and then figure out how to feel in the mood constantly with sheets that invariably have baby sick on 🙈🤣

Mmm baby sick... Such a turn on! 🤣

I think we can manage sex every other day between periods, but for me this trouble is I don't yet have my periods back! I feel this is the first hurdle! DS is 10 months so am naively hoping they come back soon.

I think in your late thirties it's just more likely you'll have some duff eggs eh, so sadly more chemicals/MCs 😔 But most women would still conceive in time if they don't have any actual fertility issues. I'm sure eating well and generated healthy living must be a big help. But all this is fruitless if you don't have any flipping periods!!

*general healthy living 🙄

Yes i think so. I'm almost 39 and very grateful to have got this far.

I wasn't having proper periods as I did before and not at all regular in length but that didn't seem to matter.

@PinkDucks I'm 33 but not feeling a huge amount of time pressure yet -- although i would maybe like a third so we'll see if that changes!

How is everyone doing? i think i might be ovulating now going by CM - late again this month (currently on cycle day 20), but i also had some spotting last week so i honestly just don't know! I didn't use OPKs when trying for my first but it seems like my ovulation is all over the place (if it's even happening?) now while i'm feeding so if we don't have any luck this month i might start testing. it's really annoying as it means i'll most likely have another long cycle so even longer to wait! we're just DTD-ing every other day/sometimes more if we feel up to it, and will probs just keep doing that until my period comes, so we'll see what happens!

My DD is 4 months old we aren't TTC yet but will be at 12 months (had a CS so need to wait a year) so following you all.

I'm 36 so though DD1 came 1st cycle I'm not taking anything for granted. Baby dust to us all

@wannabeamummysobad babydust to us all indeed.. still waiting for my periods to come back, have a feeling I may need to just stop breastfeeding completely 😢

We are currently away on vacation, trying to get overexcited toddler to sleep in our bed, and as DS started to drift off DH wakes him up by making a phone call and loudly talking on the phone in the same room 😡 because he was too lazy to take it to the living room (we are in a cottage type thing) 🤬 I am so not impressed

Hope that your holiday is going better now @Mc3209 Sometimes our lovely partners just don't think sometimes!

I think there's definitely something going on with my hormones. I'm so moody recently! DH doesn't know what's happened! One day I'm happy, then I'm crying at Disney movies, then I'm snapping at him over something silly that he didn't do quite right 😂 Let's hope it's my period returning!

Good news! DD finally dropped a feed! It took her 9 months to finally work out how to swallow and then eat a sizeable amount, but she's been going to town on her lunch, then not needing another milk feed for 3 hours (milk feed 2 hours before lunch) so that's 5 hours between 2 feeds instead of every 2/3 hours! Bliss! It'll give my boobs a break if nothing else.

Hope everyone is well

@Porridgeaddiction my moods have been all over the shop lately too. Have you done a pregnancy test by any chance? 😬

I have managed to cut down daytime feeds to 12 hours apart on most days, still feeding in the morning/evening and once in the night. I am chalking the moods to reducing happy milky hormones. Still no cycles here.

Mood swings does sound hopeful, @Porridgeaddiction ! Even if it's just a slow increase, onwards and upwards eh. My DS has become a greedy guts recently too, and has naturally cut down on breastfeeding so that's good. I guess the two things go hand in hand a bit.
@Mc3209 I hope your periods come back soon!
Does anyone know how long it takes on average to get your period once you stop bf completely?

That does sound positive @Porridgeaddiction and @Mc3209!
I'm CD16 over here and no signs of ovulation.... I think I remember it used to be later than this before pregnancy, but Flo is telling me I should have ovulated already. He's been very fussy and feeding in the night more and I'm wondering if this could be hindering things

Oooh, tmi, but... ewcm! First time I've seen that since before I was pregnant! Still haven't had a period, but ovulation has to come first right 🤞Off to pounce on DH, just in case 😁

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 how do you track? I presume you can't temp when feeding through the night, does it mess it up?

Ooh! @Orangio ewcm indicates you're fertile! Go grab DH then you'll probably be starting the 2ww! Exciting times!

@Mc3209 there is absolutely no chance that I'm pregnant. Me and DH have barely had the chance to BD... DD has started to pick her moments for waking up and always ruins the mood!
I did have a dream last night that I was at the dr's and she did a pregnancy test. It was negative, though. Just before I got my bfp with DD I kept dreaming about positive pregnancy tests.

DH did ask me today if I was pregnant as all the extra calories I've been eating have settled on my midriff - I have terrible genetics for fat accumulating in all the wrong places! He's such a charmer! Haha! Luckily for me he's the sort of diamond that would still fancy me whatever I looked like, so he's not put off by a bit of a jelly belly! 😳

@Porridgeaddiction ah no, that's rubbish, both the interrupted moments, and husband asking if you're pregnant 😫 Hopefully any kind of jelly belly will be worth it, especially with the mood swings!

@Orangio ewcm v exciting! Sounds promising! No not temping, just no sign of ewcm unfortunately.

Although I'm wondering if chances are ruined for me anyway as we were staying in a spa hotel last week and my partner had a few saunas, and I read today it damages sperm count and morphology for up to three months 😬

Really?! I had no idea saunas were bad. So much to think about eh! Although, don't some Scandinavian countries absolutely go to town on saunas all the time, and they are reproducing pretty well, so 🤷

It wasn't much ewcm to be fair, but we did successfully BD, so at least we seized the slim possibility of fertility! DS was generous and didn't start shouting for milk until afterwards! It's a nightmare though eh.. you're just getting to the good bit, but it's hard not to have half your mind thinking "don't wake up don't wake up"

@Orangio how kind of DS 🤣 it's tough isn't it, ours is still in our room. So it's quick and quiet. Hopefully there is more EWCM to come - you could be one of those who get pregnant before the first period.

Haha yup apparently the study was on multiple sperm samples of Finnish men. It only came up because we are staying at another place with a sauna in the property. Fine for me apparently, not for him!

Well men are designed very poorly it seems!

@Orangio yes very fragile it seems!

@Mc3209 did you have a nice holiday?

How's everyone else?